"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

HOUSE GOP CAUCUS IN WRIST SLASHING MOOD-- DOES DON YOUNG THINK THE SOLUTION IS RAISING GAS TAXES?

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How long before Fox starts identifying him as "Don Young (D-AK)?"

We may have mentioned how the congressional Republicans are running around like chickens without heads trying to spin the catastrophic losses they recently experienced in the special elections to replace Republicans in red districts in Illinois and Louisiana. Yesterday, away from their own spinmeisters, House GOP leaders sat down to try to grapple with impending doom. The result was even more dissension, finger-pointing and backbiting.

The double shot of bad news [a bad message and no money] had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes-- brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday-- have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode.

“There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are all these different factions out there, everyone is sniping at each other, and we have no real plan. We have a lot of people fighting to be the captain of the lifeboat instead of everybody pulling together.”

Remember the piece we linked to yesterday by Newt Gingrich in Human Events warning the Republicans that they'd better run on a platform that resonated better with voters than "I am a loyal Bush rubber stamp?" The response from House Republicans to Gingrich's advice: “hype from a has-been who desperately wants to be a player but can’t anymore." That may be true, but come November, a good many Republican legislators will be joining him in the ranks of has-beenitude if NRCC Cole's harsh assessment is correct. And Cole's camp is pushing "rumors" that Boehner will be ousted while Boehner has actively campaigned to get rid of the hapless Cole who has stumbled from one failure to another.

Cole, on the defensive in the wake of special election losses in Louisiana and Illinois, pointed his finger Tuesday at his Republican colleagues, telling them that they had been too stingy in helping fund party efforts. He also complained that the Republicans ran weak candidates in both Louisiana and Illinois — a charge Cole made despite the fact that, as NRCC chairman, he could have played a major role in choosing the party’s candidates if he hadn’t made the decision to stay out of GOP primaries.

In his meeting with members, Cole distributed a document showing that even former Republican political guru Karl Rove had badmouthed Jenkins, according to GOP sources. It’s not clear whether Cole meant it as a criticism of Rove or of Jenkins.

But Cole’s overall message was clear, said members who sat through the meeting: “If you’re not out doing your own work, and you’re waiting for the NRCC to come in at the last minute and save you, it ain’t gonna happen.” That’s how one lawmaker characterized Cole’s talk, adding that the NRCC is “not going to have the resources” to help all members “and Democrats will have a lot more money.”

Republicans are suffering a crisis of confidence after the two special election losses. There’s talk that House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and other GOP leaders could be ousted if the party suffers double-digit losses in November.

Meanwhile one of Congress' more corrupt Republicans, Alaska Rep. Don Young, seems to think that the best defense is to fly in the face of his party's presidential nominee and point out that his gas tax holiday proposal is not just pandering, but the opposite of what Republicans should be supporting. And what does the man behind the millions and millions of dollars in earmarks for the Bridge to Nowhere think the right policy should be?

Well, according to today's CongressDaily Young has come out against "pandering to the general public," and favor his very (very, very) good friends at the oil companies and proposing a $1-per-gallon gas tax to bring down demand. [Note-- and I'm sure this is just a coincidence-- the energy sector has given over a million and a half dollars in legal bribes to Young as campaign contributions and they have never, ever, had any reason to rue their donations.]

Young told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Highways Subcommittee that the tax would cause Americans to adjust their behavior.

Neither McCain nor McClinton could be reached for comment but the next time Cole, Boehner, Howdy Doody, McCain, McConnell, Blunt, Young, Woody KKK-pecker and all the other geniuses who run the Inside the Beltway Republicans, Inc sit down to figure out why no one wants to vote for them anymore, they might consider their leader's most recent threat against the American people. In this afternoon's CQPolitics Bush vowed that if Congress comes up with a bill to ease the mortgage crisis, he will veto it. And, of course, the Republican Rubber Stamp Brigade is cheering him on.

After meeting with the House Republican Conference, Bush said, “I will veto the bill that’s moving through the House today if it makes it to my desk, and I urge members on both sides of the aisle to focus on a good piece of legislation that is being sponsored by Republican members.”

The package before the House combines several major bills, including a regulatory overhaul of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a modernization of the Federal Housing Administration. The White House has long sought both of those measures.

But Bush opposes a cornerstone of the package that would provide $300 billion in new authority for the FHA to insure refinanced loans for struggling home owners, asserting that it would “reward speculators and lenders.”

As usual, Bush has his facts ass-backward. It's his own party that wants to continue assisting Wall Street predators and speculators while the Democrats are trying to help families in danger of losing their homes, victims of Bush-GOP policies that have strengthened the worst bottom-line mania of corporate banks and mortgage companies at the expense of consumers and borrowers. Even as corporate a shill as Steny Hoyer, called out Bush on this bullshit today: “Nothing could be further from the truth. Our housing rescue bill, which has attracted bipartisan support, specifically excludes speculators, investors, and second homes, and requires lenders to take losses.”

Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee was a little less diplomatic than Hoyer. Bush and his vile and criminal regime has "decided to stop governing... and not allow the [Democratic] Congress to claim anything constructive.”